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100 Greatest Guitarists

Duane Eddy

Ed Rode/WireImage

If there was any doubt left in the late 1950s that the guitar – not the saxophone – was rock & roll's essential lead instrument, Duane Eddy settled the argument: See his 1958 single "Rebel Rouser," curled with country twang and rippling with tremolo. "Chet Atkins used vibrato in a selective way – Duane Eddy used it to thrash the music," says the Kinks' Dave Davies. The impact of Eddy's hits, like "Forty Miles of Bad Road" and "Peter Gunn," would soon be heard in surf music and guitarists such as Jeff Beck and George Harrison.